


A Forest of Tears

by SociopathicArchangel



Series: A Forest of Tears [2]
Category: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (Short Film)
Genre: Multi, eyyyyyy here we have another serving of onions, feat. shitty original poetry by me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-06 12:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5416397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SociopathicArchangel/pseuds/SociopathicArchangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>i.<br/>Concepts do not fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

 _Heaven is made from our sweetest memories_  
Hell from our sins and suffering  
And Purgatory’s made from our broken dreams  
And Earth, oh Earth, is **EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN**  
It’s **LIFE** and **DEATH** and **HOPE** and **TEARS**  
And Earth is the worst place to be

 

_ Leviticus A. Winchester _

* * *

 

 

The date was June 19. Today, Harry was supposed to pick up the newspaper from the front porch and go to the kitchen for breakfast. Manny would be cooking. Robin would wake up late, as he was up pulling an all-nighter and would stumble into the kitchen in search of the blessed gift to humanity that was coffee.

Harry was supposed to read the paper while Manny set their food in front of them and Robin was supposed to ask, “Anything interesting?”

Harry would then skim over the articles and say, “Not really,” even if they both knew that Robin wasn’t talking about the news.

Then they were supposed to clean up and dress for work. Harry was supposed to check his room to see if any letters from their friends had arrived, and he wouldn’t see anything, just like he hadn’t received any letters for the past three months, and he would close the door as he left without a second glance. Then they would pile into the car and drive off to work.

They were supposed to do their work as always, drive home once dismissed, and then Robin was supposed to cook dinner. Harry would then check the entire house for anything at all that came from Paige or Tony and, just like he expected, would find nothing. Then he would join his friends for their meal, watch some television and go to bed.

That was their lives.

Come morning, Robin would wake up before any of them and try to rub the sleep out of his eyes before glancing at the calendar. The date was supposed to be June 20.

That day, Robin was supposed to trip down the stairs and then break his arm and leg when he landed on it. Manny and Harry were going to be awakened by the noise and they would be late for work because they had to take their friend to the hospital. Of course, Robin would not go to work at all.

Harry would sigh and can’t help but feel a little thankful that Paige and Tony were not around anymore to leech off their money, because now they had enough to pay Robin’s hospital bills and still be able to have enough to pay rent and buy their necessities.

Only Harry and Manny were supposed to get home on June 20, eat their dinner and Harry would check for letters before he went to bed.

Harry was supposed to wake up and the date would June 21. He was supposed to stay exactly three minutes and 4 seconds on his bed mulling over the date as he stared at the calendar. There would be a nagging feeling at the back of his head and he would move to stand up, but then sit back down because he felt like he was forgetting something.

Then he would snap his fingers and whisper, “Of course.”

June 21st was his sister’s birthday. He would call her and she would hiss into the phone, “It’s four A.M in the damn morning, this better be good, you red pile of mop hair,” and Harry would answer, “Happy Birthday.”

His sister would make a confused noise and there would be shuffling of blankets over the line as she moved to look at the calendar on her desk and then click her tongue. “Well,” she would say, “Would you look at that, I’m a year older today. And you’re still a huge dork for waking me up early and being the first one to greet me.”

Harry would chuckle, “I am your older brother, after all. That’s kind of my job.”

Manny would wake up an hour after him and Harry would go downstairs with a smile on his face, humming a childhood tune. Manny would say, “You’re in a good mood today.”

“Yeah, getting rid of Robin made the house seem brighter.”

And Manny would throw his head back and laugh. He would threaten to tell that to Robin and Harry would snicker back. He would then sit down, “Really, though. It’s my sister’s birthday. I just called her on the phone.”

“Oh, how old is she?”

“She’s turning twenty four.”

Manny would hum in response. They would eat breakfast, get to work, visit Robin and listen to him complain about horrible hospital food and how boring it was with how he wasn’t allowed to move with his injuries, and then get back home, have dinner and sleep. Harry would once again check for any word from Paige or Tony.

Then Harry would wake up in the middle of the night for a glass of water and go back to sleep. Afterwards, he’d wake up first again and the date would be June 22.

That was how it was supposed to be.

-

The date was June 19.

 

Today, the humans did what they were supposed to do. Harry picked up the newspaper, Manny was cooking breakfast, Robin asked if there was anything interesting and Harry responded no even if they both knew Robin wasn’t referring to the news. Harry checked for letters in his room and found nothing. They went to work, they got home, they ate dinner and went to bed.

Robin woke up and his eyes landed on the analog calendar across his bed, immediately zeroing in on June 20.

Robin walked down the stairs and did not trip and break his arm or leg. Harry and Manny did not rush him to the hospital.

The date was supposed to be June 20. Harry went to the front porch to pick up the newspaper, eyes lazily scanning the pages and he blinked when he realized that he recognized the headline. He looked at the ads at the corners of the page and saw that they were exactly the same as yesterday, down to that small smear at the bottom right ad.

He looked at the date at the top left of the page.

The date was June 19.

Harry tossed the newspaper into the trash bin and shrugged it off as the paper boy’s mistake.

They got to work.

His co-worker greeted him just like she did yesterday and her hair was in that messy bun she was trying out. An intern spilled coffee on the third tile to the boss’ office’s door. The bell was broken and they had lunch 10 minutes late because they did not notice.

Harry got home after he was dismissed.

Robin and Manny were both silent, mulling over their day that was exactly like yesterday.

They ate dinner with no words and went to bed.

Harry did not call his sister even if the date was supposed to be June 21. He went downstairs and picked up the paper.

The date was June 19.

He glanced around the neighborhood that was still quiet as not everyone woke up this early. He walked over as quietly as he could to the house beside them and picked up the paper.

The headlines were the same. The ads were the same.

The date was June 19.

He tried another house and picked up the paper.

The date was June 19.

And another.

The date was June 19.

Harry swallowed thickly before walking back to their house and locking the door behind him. Manny and Robin asked what took him so long and he sat down. His hands shook as he placed the paper on the table and pointed at the words printed at the top left corner that was supposed to indicate what date it was today.

The date was June 19.


	2. i. We are the Hollow Men

 

_i. Concepts do not fall in love_

 

* * *

 

  **MARCH, EARTH**

None of them thought to mark the date when they received three strong knocks at the front door while they were trying to have a quiet dinner and at the same time trying to be as unassuming as they could so that neither Paige nor Tony would think it would be appropriate to have a ‘lesson’ at night.

Both of them looked pissed with each other earlier. Most of the blood-dried stairs was in splinters and there was a huge hole in the backyard. All the mortals had learned not to ask long ago.

As Harry motioned to his friends to get out of the kitchen as soon as Paige had entered –  Tony’s footsteps echoing upstairs marking his descent to join her soon – there were three loud knocks at the door.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to its direction. Paige’s eyebrows raised. Robin looked at her and then at Harry. Manny did as well. Honestly, Harry was more surprised that the door hadn’t been knocked down yet. Whoever knocked on it sounded like they were trying to beat it bloody.

He shrugged, thinking it must have been a very tired and angry delivery guy. Paige and Tony did like to order stuff with his credit cards after all. This wouldn’t be the first time.

Paige wasn’t moving. From the silence upstairs, neither was Tony.

Harry crossed the kitchen and went to the front door to get it.

What greeted him wasn’t a delivery man in a too-tight uniform with an unamused expression on his face as he delivered the last package of the day. No. It was two tall…things that looked like dried tree branches made to resemble a human and clothed in white robes, flanking what looked to be an oddly colored humanoid (probably another one of  Paige and Tony’s kind, whatever they were called. They were always so colorful) that was a few inches shorter than him.

The _things_ itself were taller than the doorframe, and Harry nearly reached the top of the doorframe. He was 6’2, so that was definitely saying something. Probably said ‘we are dangerous and also really creepy so get out of the way before we impale you’.

One of the things moved. It shifted its arm to get a better hold of the silver spear it was holding, and when it did, its surface moved in the same way skin would.

Harry mentally winced.

Okay, so maybe they weren’t tree branches but dried up humans with blackened skin from dehydration, maybe. Like a mummy.

This was disturbing as all hell.

“Hello,” the human-looking creature in front of him gave him a small smile. Maybe it was supposed to be reassuring.

It wasn’t. He’d seen that look too many times.

“How can I help you?” he asked. Never hurt to be polite, really.

“Are Creativity and Time here?”

He raised an eyebrow. Neither of the monsters under his roof ever really called each other that unless they were really, _really, ‘_ no reconciliation for about a week and then some’ pissed at each other and that happened rarely.

There was a loud clack in the kitchen. A few seconds later, it was followed by another, and then another, and he turned to see Paige slowly walking towards him, eyes on the visitor on the porch. Said visitor leaned forward to look at her.

“Hello, Creativity,” they waved.

Paige shot her a glare and crossed her arms, “What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Time?”

On cue, Tony walked into sight as he descended down the last steps of the stairs and stopped in his steps as he caught sight of the front door.

“Prudence,” he greeted, eyes narrowing, “For what do we owe the pleasure?”

Prudence smiled wide and snapped their fingers.

Within two seconds, Harry was pushed aside and the two monsters beside Prudence were inside the house, each subduing Paige and Tony. Robin and Manny ran towards the noise and halted as soon as they saw Paige on the floor, thrashing while she was held down by one thin creature in robes, spear sticking out of her leg and slightly stained in ink and blood. Tony was currently swinging his sword against the other tree-creature’s spear, but was soon knocked back on his feet when the thing managed to disarm him and kick him onto his back, pressed against the stairs.

He growled and threw a punch. The creature stabbed his bicep with the spear and grabbed him by his hair, and then knocked his head onto a broken step.

“Tony,” Prudence started, and Harry turned towards the fallen man just in time to see a blue circle light up from under him, rise up to the air and condense into thin strings that wound around his hands, feet, torso and neck, pulling taut, “ Concept of Time and Paige,” at the mention of her name, the same thing happened to Paige and bound her, “Concept of Creativity, by the authority given to me by the Grand Council of Columnas Creationis, you are hereby arrested under accusation of violations of the sacred rules of the Family.”

They turned to Paige, “To not overstep boundaries when interacting with humans, which includes murder over a hundred, outside of self-defense and necessity, especially murders hidden from the Council.”

Then to Tony, “To not abuse one’s abilities, especially when they are a Power. To not use said abilities on humans outside of self-defense and necessity.”

The creatures yanked Tony and Paige to their feet, dragging them towards the door. Paige spat at Prudence, who easily evaded it. The ink landed on the porch instead, sizzling as it bore a hole into it. Harry shivered.

“Honestly, you two were doing so well with your hiding until you decided to get on a murder spree worthy of international news. Fate was getting fed up with you,” they said and motioned towards the guards to follow, “Let’s go, boys. Oh, and mortals?” they turned back to Harry and spared Robin and Manny a glance, “The trial would be on the 21st of this month on your Earth calendar. We’ll pick you up, don’t you worry.”

They gave Harry one last nod. The guards dragged a squirming and cursing Paige out the door while Tony was silently seething. Prudence closed the door after the two were out.

When Harry got up a few minutes later and opened it, nobody was outside.

 

* * *

**t** **̚** **̌** **̿̎̇ͤ̔҉̛̹̘̱͙̤͓̮͈̕** **i** **̒** **́** **̥̖̔́** **̣̣m** **̢͚͕̲̘̪͌ͯ̾̏͊͡** **̣** **͈͚̙** **e** **͊** **́** **̂** **̘̫̹̖̫͔̜̭̝ͫ͂͛͆͗͡** **͑** **̃** **̶͈̺̺͔̍ͫ̾̑̍͟ͅ** **u** **̹̘̲̻̭̰͕̇̍ͩͧ͗ͤ̈́̎͟** **n** **̴̧̮̜̫̫̫̿̓̇ͯ̏͂** **a** **̾** **̃** **̓** **̃** **̶̡̧̽̽ͥͮ** **̣** **̩̭̘** **v** **̴͉̱͉̏͑** **a** **ͫ̔̅͟** **̣** **̬** **̦** **i** **̷͙̙̠̫̝̏͞ͅ** **̣l** **̌** **͌ͯͯ͋** **̋** **̨͍̯̏͑** **a** **̫̺͚̺̟̟̫̓̽ͅͅ** **b** **̑** **̌** **̠̯̪͉͖̽̅ͮͮ͡** **l** **̡̊͛ͬ̿̇͆̾͞͝** **̣** **̬** **e** **͈̞͐ͬ͐͗ͣͨ͒̔** **̈** **͌** **̌̂** **̷͏̶** **̦** **̪** **, ORIGINEM NEBULA**

The words ‘COLUMNAS CREATIONIS’ were engraved into the frieze of what looked like a Greek temple Harry had only seen in documentaries. The ‘guards’, for lack of better term since he still didn’t know what they were, said that they were being taken to the meeting hall, but this was way fancier than what he expected.

He expected maybe a fifty by twenty feet room where people in suits were going to be crammed and forced to yell at each other, not a marble building built in…whatever style this was.

Robin said it was Corinthian. Harry never did bother to memorize all that stuff about architecture. It didn’t catch his attention, really.

They were herded inside by their guards, who hissed more than talked, and were led to sit in the front row of seats. The building was filled with colorful humanoids that Harry guessed must have been the race of the monsters that had lived in their house for years. Truthfully, he never really thought Tony and Paige had a society, but they must have come from somewhere, right?

They even had a jury, and Harry spotted the familiar mop of black hair and translucent yellow wings that belonged to – what was his name, Shrignold? Yeah, the weird dude who Manny met in the woods when he got lost during a picnic and would stop by the house to pester Tony and Paige sometimes. Never them, thankfully, just Tony and Paige.

He usually ended up dead, beaten up, or tossed out.

How was a dork like that in the jury?

The one sitting in the judge’s seat was an average-height humanoid with bluish-white skin, like they had just frozen to death (and since this was the race where Paige and Tony came from, Harry wouldn’t be surprised if it was their heart that was made out of ice), black hair and blue eyes. At least they would pass off as a human, just in need of warmth and a good dose of sunlight.

He didn’t even remember when the trial started. All he could remember was that someone in purple had announced that the trial would start, acknowledged the judge (Fate or something), the jury, which was apparently the Council of Columnas Creationis, and then Paige and Tony were brought in it glowing restraints.

They were pushed into two circles in front of the judge that looked like it was drawn in blood with symbols on it, and the binds around their wrists, ankles and neck glowed brighter. Their charges were read. Paige was silently seething. Tony kept muttering under his breath.

Harry hadn’t been to a lot of trials, but this one probably didn’t work like human trials, because it seemed so final. Neither of the accused could say their piece or plead, their charges were just read and the suggested punishment for each offense were read as well. Harry couldn’t really count how many rules the two had broken.

Apparently, running away without Falling, capitalization intended, was against the rules since they were ‘harboring a pillar used not for the benefit of all, but for themselves’ which defeated the purpose of their existence. So was killing over a certain number of people. And abuse of powers. And a lot more that Paige had started picking her nails at.

Then the witnesses were called to testify, which was them. They spoke their piece, starting from day one of their involvement with Paige, to the endless tortures they had to live with each day. The jury member in yellow (Loyalty? What was up with their names here?) told them to describe in detail all that they could remember so that they would be able to come up with a fitting verdict for the two.

That part was easy. The pain was seared into their memories after all.

He testified first, and then they were given a break. And then Robin. After that, the rest of the trial was to be continued the next day.

At least the suite was nice.

Manny testified. Paige and Tony were still in chains.

The jury took an amount of time to talk with each other, and the judge kept looking at the mortals that Harry had to try to stay still not squirm. Eventually, the jury presented three choices – permanent death, stasis or separation.

The judge had made a snort at the words. Death, they said, was too easy. Punishment was given so that people learn and would be better in the future. Stasis was no different than death and was just boring, especially since it wasn’t necessary.

Separation, however.

Fate rose from their seat and lifted their head, declaring in a loud voice, “This is the verdict that the Council of Columnas Creationis, leaders of the Originem Nebula, have chosen. The Concept of Creativity and the Concept of Time shall be forbidden to interact with each other in any way whatsoever, due to the destruction they have caused when they are together. Any breach of this rule is punishable by torture, no holds barred, and this verdict shall hold…”

The judge looked down to glance at Paige and then Tony, eyes narrowing a bit, “For the rest of eternity.”

_“What.”_ Tony hissed, taking one step forward to try and break from the circle keeping him in.

That was when all hell broke loose. Tony tried to get out, so did Paige, and the binds that kept them in burned their skin and left them screaming, but they still tried to get past the invisible barrier. The guards went to subdue them, and as soon as the creatures stepped inside the circle, Paige lunged at one of them and sunk her teeth into its bony arm, snapping it. Tony kicked down the first one to enter his circle.

Several came to their comrades’ assistance and Paige and Tony were pinned to the floor in no time, yelling threats. Fate called for Tony’s sword to be brought into the room and that caused both of them to still.

“No,” Tony’s eyes were wide as the sword was placed a few feet in front of him, “No. No no no no _no!”_

Fate beckoned someone in the crowd to come to the front and Harry saw what looked like a young boy with grayish skin and dark hair, shaking as they walked towards the judge. Said judge pointed to the sword and said, “You know what to do.”

The young boy closed his eyes, drew in a breath and stepped on the sword.

To Harry’s surprise, it broke.

It sounded like glass shattering, and the moment that sound echoed through the entire building, small wisps of blue escaped from the fragments and disappeared.

Tony had fallen silent, mouth open in disbelief. Paige was stock still.

Then the screaming started again.

 

* * *

**MARCH, EARTH**

It was a few weeks before they started noticing that the world around them wasn’t quite right, and that sometimes sceneries looked exactly the same, songs had the same melody, and the sun set too early or too late.

The first time Harry found a letter in Tony’s old workshop while he was cleaning it up, he wasted no time putting it in Paige’s old room.

The price of being middleman was small compared to an entire world breaking.

It was like that for a few months, just exchanging letters between two monsters he never saw, and somehow life got a little better when he wasn’t so paranoid to step out of his room, which was still the attic.

He never reclaimed the old one. It didn’t feel like his room anymore.

And then suddenly the letters stopped.

He waited.

But nothing came.

 

* * *

**t** **̚** **̌** **̿̎̇ͤ̔҉̛̹̘̱͙̤͓̮͈̕** **i** **̒** **́** **̥̖̔́** **̣̣m** **̢͚͕̲̘̪͌ͯ̾̏͊͡** **̣** **͈͚̙** **e** **͊** **́** **̂** **̘̫̹̖̫͔̜̭̝ͫ͂͛͆͗͡** **͑** **̃** **̶͈̺̺͔̍ͫ̾̑̍͟ͅ** **u** **̹̘̲̻̭̰͕̇̍ͩͧ͗ͤ̈́̎͟** **n** **̴̧̮̜̫̫̫̿̓̇ͯ̏͂** **a** **̾** **̃** **̓** **̃** **̶̡̧̽̽ͥͮ** **̣** **̩̭̘** **v** **̴͉̱͉̏͑** **a** **ͫ̔̅͟** **̣** **̬** **̦** **i** **̷͙̙̠̫̝̏͞ͅ** **̣l** **̌** **͌ͯͯ͋** **̋** **̨͍̯̏͑** **a** **̫̺͚̺̟̟̫̓̽ͅͅ** **b** **̑** **̌** **̠̯̪͉͖̽̅ͮͮ͡** **l** **̡̊͛ͬ̿̇͆̾͞͝** **̣** **̬** **e** **͈̞͐ͬ͐͗ͣͨ͒̔** **̈** **͌** **̌̂** **̷͏̶** **̦** **̪** **,  PENITENTIARY**

The small cell was dark and damp. Her stomach was grumbling and that was saying something because they didn’t need to eat. Her arms were sore, stiff and itchy. She’d tried to scratch them, but her wrists were stopped by the now-familiar chafe of the rune-inscribed handcuffs with chains only went about a foot. She didn’t need to look at the skin of her hands to know that they were swollen and bleeding, unable to heal due to the restrictions posed by the binds.

Paige knocked her head back against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. Not that it made any difference. In fact, she could no longer tell whether she was awake or asleep at times because everything was always pitch black and she rarely dreamed.

And when she did there was always screaming.

She tilted her head to the side in an attempt to get the feeling of muscle burn off her neck, but it didn’t help much as the other side started to burn as well. Her legs were cramped and the bone near her ankle was killing her from being pressed under her weight for what she thought to be a few days now, but she could move – her cell was the size of a box that she had to contort her body into odd angles to fit in.

The walls were made of two inch-thick metal that had one slit on each panel for air to get in but it didn’t make it easier to breathe. Paige inhaled rust, blood, sweat and air in one deep breath.

The cellbox shook and Paige was knocked to the side as it was tilted. It gave another jolt and she hit her head on the ceiling. Paige hissed as she accidentally bit her tongue. The box was rattled around a bit more and she landed on one gaping wound at the side of her arm. Her weight was lifted off her ankles as her feet slipped out under her.

A laugh came from outside, followed by footsteps.

Something hot bloomed at the pit of Paige’s stomach. She shifted her weight on one side of her body and grunted as she rocked to the other side of the box.

“Prudence!” she half-yelled.

Prudence shook the box again, “What? You’re gonna have to speak up, Creativity, I can’t – ” another hard rattle “ – hear you.”

Damn them for being so strong.

“I’d speak better if you’d stop manhandling my cell.”

“A cell?” Prudence chortled, “This is more like a little box chair, Creativity. Just the right size to sit on, nobody’d even mind that there was someone inside. Or maybe a package. To be burned even!”

Paige gritted her teeth and murmured, “I cannot believe you’re related to Mercy.”

If they heard her, they ignored them. “You weren’t using your head too well, Creativity. You have been warned before and yet after all the flogging – all the disembowelments and the slow deboning – you still tried to send him a letter.”

Paige closed her eyes and steeled her jaw.

Prudence tapped on the top of the box, “You didn’t think we’d find out?”

A harsh bark of laughter. The cell tilted slightly and Paige imagined them throwing their head back, “What’d you tell him by the way? How prison life was treating you? Ask him if he had any ideas on how to escape? That you wuuuvvvv him?”

“You little bitch –”

“Don’t bother trying to contact him, Creativity.” Their voice dropped to a whisper, “I think he’s a lot worse than you are right now.”

Paige rammed her entire body against the wall of the box, “Keep your hands off of him!”

“Oh ho ho, a little too late for that.”

The footsteps stopped. There was a loud groan of metal moving and Paige instinctively pressed against the cold wall of her box. They were in the torture room again. Her eyes flitted around the darkness and her breathing sped up, chest burning with the limited air supply.

She yelped as her box was tossed in the air in an arc. It landed on the metal table with a scrape and a topple. Paige landed on her left arm – which was broken – and screamed.

Prudence was laughing again.

Creativity did her best to do a semblance of sitting up and peered through the slit of the box that gave her a small view of the pristine room lined with pure white tiles, glass and metal. Luckily, she was also seeing the open door where she spotted the long locks of magenta hair that belonged to the logic-loving bitch.

Prudence stopped by the doorway, turned around and winked at her.

“By the way, Justice is going to be taking care of Tony.”

Paige’s eyes widened. Oh hell no.

Prudence clapped their hands together and smirked, “So I’m in charge of your punishment today!” They waved before exiting the room, “Just stay put and I’ll be right back.”

Paige snarled and punched the wall, “Prudence! Prudence, get back here you fu –”

The door slid and slammed shut, muffling her enraged cries.

It was a few minutes later before she heard the door open again. Paige’s breaths resounded in her metal box as she edged to press her face near the thin slit that allowed her to see outside. Her view was shaky as her body was contorted awkwardly and she fought over wanting comfort or seeing Prudence get inside.

The box slid, turning her from facing the door to one of the walls before she felt the temperature inside her tiny prison rise.

Paige banged one fist on the metal surface, “Prudence!”

The heat stopped and slowly died down. There was on tap above her.

“Oh, you don’t want your cell to be opened?”

“I swear, the moment I get out I will make you beg.”

Prudence lifts and slams the box down the table and Paige hits her head again.

“Good luck with that, Creativity. No one has ever made me beg and no one ever will.”

The already dim light in the box gets darker when Prudence slaps something on the slit nearest to Paige. That side of the box heated up and Paige leaned away from it as much as possible. Then another slit was covered and heated. Then another, and another, until the only one left was the one above Paige, not doing her any favors since if she tried to peek through it, she saw the single huge lamp above her.

“So I asked Justice if any form of punishment would be fine,” there was a loud thump beside Paige’s box, “And they said that since you’ve been warned for more than three times now and you still haven’t stopped, anything would be fine! Just as long as I don’t permanently kill you. Shame, since I can’t if I tried, anyway.”

Paige went cross-eyed when something that looked like thin tubes were slipped into the box, just in front of her face. “They wanted me to drive the lesson home,” Prudence continued. Something clicked and there was a whirring noise, “So I figured, why not use something that’s really going to make an impact?”

Cold water spurted from the tubes and wet Paige’s blood-soaked dress. Paige stiffened in realization of what Prudence was doing and started punching the walls of her cell, “Prudence!”

“Oh, this was one of Time’s favorite memories, wasn’t it? Except it was with one of those human machines that filled with water faster,” Prudence said, “Well, I’m not in a hurry. We’ve got eternity for you to suffer, Creativity.”

“Prudence!” She turned around as best as she could – which ended up with her twisting her lower body and disturbing her sore feet and legs – and doubled her efforts in trying to break through the box.

“What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of –” something slammed against metal and Paige’s breath hitched as the tubes spewed water into her box faster “- rushing water!”

“Prudence, I swear to God –”

“Ooh, still feisty. Sorry, we can’t have that, dearie.”

Another set of tubes were slid into the box and then turned on. The water had soaked her entire skirt and was working its way up her folded legs. Not again. No, no, no, not again. Never again. The box itself was claustrophobic enough.

Then Prudence slipped in more tubes that Paige lost her entire light source and the water was pouring quickly. It rose up to her waist in less than a minute. Prudence was serious about drowning her.

She waited until the water was up to her chin and she had to tilt her head upwards. Prudence was going to stop anytime now.

A minute passed and the water was up to her nose.

Prudence didn’t stop.

“Prudence!”

“Oh, you’re still alive. I thought you might have drowned early seeing as the box isn’t overflowing yet.”

“You’re not allowed – ” she shook her head to get rid of the water trying to slip into her mouth, “ – you’re not allowed to kill me!”

“Not if it’s temporary~!”

She was starting to inhale the blood and rust-mixed liquid now. The muscles in her neck screamed as she tried to raise it as high as she could to avoid the water.

It rose higher until it overcame her mouth and reached her eyes.

Paige closed her eyes and grit her teeth. “Prudence!” she hoped that they could still hear her even if her voice was garbled and muffled by the water. Thankfully, it seemed like they did when they moved towards the box and asked, “Yes, Creativity?”

“Let me out!” she said. Then, hesitantly, “Please.”

“I’ll need you to do better, Creativity.”

Oh, fuck it. “Please let me out, Prudence!” Bubbles burst into the water as it filled the entire box and started to overflow. It was hopeless trying to hold in her breath anyway, she was still going to die and she would rather take begging than drowning again. She begged Tony before, she can beg Prudence even if it left a sour taste in her mouth.

Unlike Tony, however, Prudence let out a satisfied noise before sliding her box to the edge of the table and tipping it over, pulling out the tubes and letting the water spill out of her cell. The impact of Paige’s broken arm and the metal surface of her cage was lessened by the now-draining liquid.

Paige breathed a sigh of relief and sneezed.

Prudence tilted the box back up and started to peel off the welded pieces of metal that covered the breathing slits.

“I think that went quite well, didn’t it, Creativity?”

Paige did not bother to dignify that with a response and tucked her chin into her chest instead.

“Next time you try to send Time anything, think about whether or not you’d like to be thrown into the lake and drowned in that small box of yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i changed shrignold and manny's meeting for this story. also 'A Mother's Love' still took place in this.


	3. ii. Shape without Form, Shade without Color

 

_A name is a sacred thing. It can be used to summon or banish a Concept. Do not give out your names carelessly._

 

* * *

**t** **̚** **̌** **̿̎̇ͤ̔҉̛̹̘̱͙̤͓̮͈̕** **i** **̒** **́** **̥̖̔́** **̣̣m** **̢͚͕̲̘̪͌ͯ̾̏͊͡** **̣** **͈͚̙** **e** **͊** **́** **̂** **̘̫̹̖̫͔̜̭̝ͫ͂͛͆͗͡** **͑** **̃** **̶͈̺̺͔̍ͫ̾̑̍͟ͅ** **u** **̹̘̲̻̭̰͕̇̍ͩͧ͗ͤ̈́̎͟** **n** **̴̧̮̜̫̫̫̿̓̇ͯ̏͂** **a** **̾** **̃** **̓** **̃** **̶̡̧̽̽ͥͮ** **̣** **̩̭̘** **v** **̴͉̱͉̏͑** **a** **ͫ̔̅͟** **̣** **̬** **̦** **i** **̷͙̙̠̫̝̏͞ͅ** **̣l** **̌** **͌ͯͯ͋** **̋** **̨͍̯̏͑** **a** **̫̺͚̺̟̟̫̓̽ͅͅ** **b** **̑** **̌** **̠̯̪͉͖̽̅ͮͮ͡** **l** **̡̊͛ͬ̿̇͆̾͞͝** **̣** **̬** **e** **͈̞͐ͬ͐͗ͣͨ͒̔** **̈** **͌** **̌̂** **̷͏̶** **̦** **̪** **, ORIGINEM NEBULA**

Shrignold put his head in his hands, breathed in deeply and sighed through his nose. If there was ever anyone with bad timing, it was him.

Of all the times he had to finally accept the offer of being a council member, it had to be several months before all of this mess had happened. Sure, everything was easy and fine during those first peaceful months, but after the trial all of it had gone to hell. Not to mention he was getting shifty-eyed glares from his fellow councilmembers since he had known the accused back at the human world.

Well, he wasn’t the one who was killing humans and messing up in covering their tracks, was he?

It was…uncharacteristic of them to slip up, though. Paige and Tony had been gone from the realm for years, and had been killing for the majority of the time they had been away. They’d avoided being caught by the humans, and by the Concepts, so what had changed?

“Perhaps we should lessen the punishments for a while,” somebody spoke up. Shrignold raised his head at that. As far as he could tell, the Council hated Time and Creativity (why, he didn’t really know. They were interesting, flashy and proud, but who in the realm wasn’t?), so finding someone who vouched in their favor was a surprise. This should be interesting.

Somebody let out a chuckle. Several whispers were exchanged between members of the table.

The person spoke again, though unfortunately they were several seats to Shrignold’s left so he couldn’t really see who it was without leaning forward and he was just so tired right now. Not worth the effort. He leaned back on his chair instead and just listened.

“Time is a Power, and he has a profound effect on an element in our universe,” they said, “With the constant torture you are giving him, his body is draining magic out of earth to repair itself and withstand the damage you are inflicting upon him. Creativity may not be a Power, but her element is a lot more noticeable than Time’s and it’s causing a stir within the mortal population. Fields are going barren for no reason, flowers are wilting in the middle of spring, colors are – ”

“Get to the point.”

Now that voice, Shrignold knew. That was Fate.

“Cut down on the punishment and let the Earth heal or we may tear open a few holes in the fabric of time and space,” the Concept finished.

“That’ll give Time and Creativity enough time to heal and contact each other again, maybe try to escape,” Loyalty said, blonde hair visible from across the table, “We need to stamp it into their heads that rebellion is useless, and if we let up, then they’ll have hope.”

“Strict discipline is needed, I agree.” That was Void. Maybe. Shrignold never really bothered to memorize their names outside of the head of the Council.

“We _can_ just easily wipe out the memories of the humans should notice anything off,” Fate said, “That happens sometimes and we’ve always taken care of it. We can easily do it again. The mortals should be thankful we’re taking a couple of mass murderers from their hands or their population’s going to deteriorate.”

The others expressed their agreements. Shrignold closed his eyes for a while to prevent himself from rolling them and sighing.

“I believe that is all on our agenda for today?” Fate asked. Once it was confirmed, they waved a hand, “Dismissed.”

Marble chairs scraped against tile as each of the members stood up and moved to exit the room, some sticking with each other to talk or hurrying out by themselves. As for him, he pushed his chair back with a sigh and tiredly shuffled towards the double doors of the meeting room. Council meetings were such a bore, honestly. He should never have let himself be talked into this when Fate insisted. Didn’t the same thing happened to Time once? At least, long ago, they said…

He should be out there doing his job or something. It was easy enough, seeing as most humans fell in love by themselves, but if he didn’t pick up slack every few months or so, then there’d be more lust than love in the world and when people finally found their special ones, they were going to have a rocky relationship.

That was part of his job, setting up fifth grade crushes and summer flings; he was pretty much the reason why most teenagers finished high school with at least five exes on their résumés.  Not because he liked toying around with them, but humans learned best through experience, and romance was not an easy road. So he had to build up knowledge on how to deal things by setting them up with people that weren’t their special ones. If they weren’t too easily bitter, most of them came out of the relationship learned and as friends.

If they were, well. Humans did have a scope of free will, however limited.

And there was that one time he built a cult for the kicks and giggles. That was honestly one of his more hare-brained antics.

“Mercy?”

He was by the door now. He turned around to see Fate beckoning a brown-haired lady over to them.

“Yes?”

Ah, the one who spoke up for Time and Creativity earlier. He probably shouldn’t be there.

He fast-walked out of the room and stopped when he was a few feet away from the door, out of Fate’s sight but near enough to overhear their conversation. He leaned back on the wall and stayed quiet. Luckily, everyone else had gone home.

“You’re not conspiring with Time and Creativity, are you?”

“ _What?_ ”

Mercy sounded genuinely offended.

“Because if you are, you know that we will have to accuse and try you for treason,” Fate said, “And Loyalty would love to get their hands on any traitor to the Family. They wouldn’t go easy, you know that.”

“I would never! You know that – how could you even –”

“Good, that’s good. I believe you,” they let out a small laugh, “I was merely asking, but your reaction has convinced me. I suppose it is only logical to be worried for the state of the humans since it is our job after all. You are dismissed, Mercy.”

“Thank you.”

Quick, small footsteps clacked against tile and after a few seconds, Mercy came out of the room. Their steps faltered when they saw Shrignold, but then continued to walk forward. Shrignold stood up straight and matched their pace, walking beside them. They didn’t seem to mind.

After a few turns, both of them were finally out of the front doors and going down the steps of the Grand Meeting Hall, which were stained with a light orange. He looked up. The first sun was setting. After five minutes, the second one would and then the moons would rise. The passing of the day was always prettier in the realm.

“Why were you eavesdropping?” Mercy hissed when they got off the last step. They weren’t looking at him, instead observing their surroundings.

Fate had eyes and ears everywhere.

“Just curious,” he whispered back, “Is Earth really that bad right now or…?”

“The humans are starting to notice weird things,” they said, “Their sun setting an hour early or an hour late. Sometimes, it rises at eight in the morning instead of the usual five or so. Sometimes hours seem to repeat, halt, or fast forward and they have no idea what just happened. The clear sky looks grey sometimes, nature is starting to wilt, songs are starting to sound the same. No one has written a piece of literature in the past two months.”

He stopped. Mercy walked a few steps ahead of him before turning back.

Shrignold blinked, “Not a single line?”

“Nope. Not even about love, and they’re usually all over that stuff.”

“Wow, that does sound horrible,” he ran a hand over his face, “If the punishments are stopped, could the anomalies be taken care of?”

“Earth can heal itself with the sufficient amount of magic, but with us currently draining it by using it punish and Time and Creativity using it to heal…” they tutted, “It’s going to get ugly if they don’t stop it.”

“How ugly?”

“You know: fabric of time and space ripped, dimensions bleeding together that may eventually lead to the inevitable collapse of our universe,” they said, “I’ll press the case again during the next meeting. Hopefully the damage won’t get too far.”

Shrignold hummed and nodded. When he didn’t say anything else, Mercy turned to walk away.

“Hey, wait,” he said. The Concept stopped to turn to him again.

“Do you, uh, do you know how Time and Creativity are doing?” he asked, “Punishments and all?”

Mercy raised an eyebrow, “Why do you want to know?”

He shrugged, “Well, the whole letter sending thing was an act of love, right? That’s sort of my thing to watch over.”

The Concept scrutinized his face for a few seconds before giving him a smile.

They turned and walked away.

* * *

 

He was more than happy with his choice of housing. It resembled a ‘tree house’, from what the humans called it, but more luxurious. There was a white, winding staircase that led from the ground to the front door. The walls of the house were made of concrete and the windows were glass. It had three floors in all, each connected by the branches, some of which were fashioned into stairs. The leaves of the tree were bioluminescent, which helped to illuminate the place whenever night fell. And the view wasn’t too bad either since the tree grew right next to the river with the glowing algae in it.

It was beautiful and cozy, and most of all silent. Lately, he had been needing silence.

The front door slammed open and Shrignold let out a sigh. So much for peace and quiet that evening.

From his room on the third floor, he heard the fridge in the kitchen open and then slam shut. Afterwards, a voice called out, “Hey, get downstairs, I brought you something!”

“Let me guess,” he called back, “Is it beer?”

“Yep!”

“Get the hell out of my house, Humour.”

“Oh, come on,” footsteps again, this time trekking on the stairs, “Dude, I know you just came from a Council meeting and you need to relax and loosen up.”

“I am not drinking dog piss,” he grumbled. The steps stopped in front of his door and Humour knocked, “Love, come on.”

“No.”

“…knock knock.”

“That better not be a tasteless knock knock joke.”

“Nah, bro, I just have manners and know how to use ‘em,” the knob turned and door opened. Humour poked their head in, shit-eating grin on their face, “Oops, looks like I dropped them.”

Shrignold turned from the window to look at them and wrinkled their nose at the smell of sulfur. “You smell like death,” he said, “Again. Where have you been?”

“In the funeral parlor,” Humour chuckled, “You know, just _killing_ time.”

“Holy _shit,”_ Shrignold stood up from his chair and grabbed Humour’s arm to turn them back around towards the direction of the door, “Get out of my room if you’re going to do that.”

“Aww, come on, Love, stop being so _lifeless_.”

“Humour!”

“Okay, okay, seriously,” Humour pried off Shrignold’s hand just before they reached the door and turned around to face them, “You okay with your work lately, buddy?”

The Concept of Love sobered. He looked down and sighed, “I’m fine.”

Humour watched him walk to his bed, sit down and put his face in his hands, “Just really tired of everything.”

“Why don’t you step down from the Council?” they suggested, “It’s not like they can’t find anyone else to take your place.”

“Not yet,” Shrignold said, “I just…feel like it’s not the right time yet. Anyway, why do you smell like rotten eggs again?”

“Way to change the subject,” Humour muttered under their breath and crossed their arms. They leaned on the doorframe, “I visited a friend.”

“Were they on Earth?”

Humour made a disbelieving noise, “No. What made you think that?”

“Mercy said that Earth was in really bad shape. Just thought you were there and the stink caught onto you.”

His friend stared at him for a few minutes, “Earth isn’t filled with rotten corpses right now, buddy.”

“Have you been there recently?”

“Granted, no, but I’m pretty sure they’re still surviving the slow drain,” they said. When Shrignold gave them a frown, they winked, “I have connections. I know that Earth’s starting to go haywire from the magic drain due to the punishments you’ve been dealing onto Time and Creativity. Hell, it’s stupid that Fate’s trying to keep it under wraps.”

“I think they’re trying to keep the rest of the population from knowing that we’re depleting our energy source, because you know what that means,” he said, “If we drain it, our world cannibalizes itself.”

“And then poof,” Humour snapped his fingers, “We’re done for. The fabric of space tears and the universe collapses onto itself because the pillars of creation didn’t do a good job.”

“I absolutely have no idea if that was a joke or not.”

Humour chuckled.

“I’ll pop by Earth to check out how bad the damage is,” Shrignold said, “For now, just let me forget about this entire mess.”

When his friend was about to respond, he held up a hand and glared at them, “Alcohol is out of the question.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: i wrote the humour-shrignold exchange before i played undertale and then wrote it in during nanowrimo. i had no idea i was writing sans in. guess bad humour's just in my bones.


	4. iii. Remember us – if at all – not as lost violent souls

 

_iii. An oath to the Styx binds a Concept to their promise. Deals may be sealed by this oath._

* * *

 

 

**APRIL, EARTH**

It had been a month since the letters had stopped, and even though he should be relieved, Harry’s stomach twisted at the thought every passing day. Either because Paige and Tony are dead( if that was possible, but it _was_ a threat if they ever went against the rules of their punishment) or something very, very bad was going to happen, or was already happening.

A week ago, the sun rose at three in the morning. Last Wednesday, the Niagara falls had somehow gone dry. Yesterday, the sun set at ten in the evening.

Scientists were constantly being featured and pestered by the media about what was going on, conspiracy theories were popping up, the whole cliché thing with people standing at the streets holding placards with the words ‘THE END IS NEAR. REPENT AND BE SAVED’ crudely written on them were showing up on the news with the headlines, ‘THE END TIMES???’.

Honestly, if he didn’t have any suspicions as to what was happening, he probably would have been one of those nutcases on the streets.

It wasn’t like Harry could do anything, though. He certainly didn’t want to tangle with the monsters again, and he had no idea if it was them that were causing the anomalies all over the planet. And if they were, how and why? To spite humans? For what reason? To spite the Council? Because that would definitely make sense.

Robin mostly kept to his room these days. Manny still tried to go to school, poor child, but most of the teachers had resigned and they didn’t have proper classes anymore. So at least three days a week, he’d stay at home and just hang around.

The news wasn’t very optimistic either. People were evacuating their places for some stupid reason Harry had yet to discover. Didn’t they get that the phenomenon was occurring all over the entire planet? A few forests had slowly decayed and a waterfall had dried up, but it wasn’t that only those places alone were affected. The Earth was slowly dying. There was nowhere they could really go.

Footage of people crowding the piers and airports would be shown. Children clinging onto their parents. People with the look of horror and hopelessness in their eyes. Harry would smile sometimes. He knew exactly how it felt to not know what to do.

Just like what was happening right now.

For Manny’s sake, he tried to tone down the alcohol, but there was only so much someone could take.

 

* * *

 

He felt the air shift before he heard the tree branches lightly tap the glass of his window as the wind blew. Harry had never been able to sleep well since Paige and Tony arrived, and had been staying up for days after the trial and on this particular night, he was feeling rather tired and a little relieved that his body was finally letting him sleep.

But something snapped inside his head and chest. The air around him stung his throat when he breathed. The wind outside was picking up. It sounded like whispers.

Something was amiss.

Robin and Manny were asleep in their rooms. Hopefully, tonight, neither would get a nightmare. There was something Harry needed to check out right now.

He grabbed a jacket from his closet, a baseball bat, and stepped out of the attic-turned-bedroom.

He made sure to make as least sound as possible as he walked down the hallway, scanning his surroundings for anything.

If…if Paige and Tony were somehow back inside the house…he would…God, what would he even do?

He checked the entire second floor thoroughly, even risking taking a peek inside Robin’s and Manny’s rooms just in case. Both were clear. If the intruder had been caught by Robin though, they probably wouldn’t have a face at present. The younger man would throw a shear at it and hit true.

The moment he reached the first floor, there was a loud creak and then a thunk, much like a window opening and closing.

He gripped the bat tighter. Here’s hoping it was burglar. He could handle that fine.

He turned towards the source of the sound. It sounded like it was from the back of the house...so near the backdoor, maybe. If it was a burglar, he could easily hit them over the head with the bat with enough force to knock them unconscious as long as he was stealthy. If they managed to evade or fight him, his height and build (fixing cars and lifting things when bossed around by monsters gave him a bit of an unwanted workout but here he was) would give him an advantage. As long as he could knock them out, it would be easy to tie them up, maybe take them to the basement and poke a few knives into their skin –

Wait, no. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go. He was _Harry._ Not Tony. Not Paige. Those monsters had really gotten to him...he should fix that.

There was a creak. Harry spun around. The stairs. The left side of the third step had been creaky from that time Paige had shoved Tony down the stairs and his shoulder crashed onto the left side of aforementioned step, effectively caving it in and dislocating his shoulder at the same time. They tried fixing it. Didn’t have very good results.

The intruder was trying to go upstairs. Robin and Manny.

Harry steeled his jaw and made his way towards the stairs, half-gliding from the speed and silence at the rate he was going. He didn’t spend years living with two sadistic horrors that killed them on a daily basis without learning a few things.

The stranger didn’t notice him as he turned the corner and passed the doorway that was beside the stairs. He could see their dark silhouette from where he was, clutching his weapon. They were about a few feet shorter than he was – good – and didn’t appear to be carrying anything yet, so maybe they hadn’t stolen anything? What was this?

The person stopped. Harry held his breath and crouched. They raised their head and sniffed, then moved to turn around.

As soon as he did, Harry put his foot on the first step and launched himself upward, lifting the bat up, ready to bring it down onto the stranger’s head just as they turned to face the noise.

Luminescent yellow eyes suddenly blinked into existence on the dark shape of the person’s silhouette and went wide at the sight of a man about to bash their head in with a bat.

“Holy shit!”

This time, Harry’s eyes went wide at the voice, but was unable to stop his bat from swinging down. The figure quickly extended an arm and neither Harry nor the weapon collided with them. Instead, Harry felt gravity pull on his back instead of his feet and he went flying onto the wall behind him, just above the door to the living room. The crash must have been enough to wake Robin and Manny.

Harry fell to the floor, groaning. He let go of the bat as weakly tried to move.

“Holy shit, I’m sorry!” there was the voice again. The stranger ran from the stairs to get to his side. They kicked the bat away and knelt beside him, eyes still glowing. From the pain-induced blurriness of Harry’s sight, all he could see was two glowing smudges in the dark with little black circles in them.

But he knew that voice. He heard it before. It was usually met with yells and threats from Paige and Tony whenever it visited on their front door or was around the neighborhood, but he _had_ heard it before. He just couldn’t put a name to it. He could have sworn he had a name for that voice.

There was a warm hand on his neck, and then his arm, then his shoulders – ow! He definitely broke something there. Or at least sprained it.

“Oh no,” the voice muttered. The yellow glows moved from his side to in front of him, though slightly further away, “Harry?” How’d this thing know his name? His head lolled to the side. There were already footsteps upstairs. “Harry, can you hear me?” the yellow glows were starting to blur and disappear. Was it going away?

The footsteps were getting closer. They were running. Close. Stairs.

There was yell. The glows disappeared as the head of the stranger turned.

“What the hell are you doing here?!”

That was Robin. A soft gasp, audible in the thick silence of the night disturbed only by them now.

“Shrignold?” Manny asked.

That made Harry force his eyes awake, “Shrignold?”

“Yeah, uh,” the Concept of Love started dragging him up by his arms and Harry hissed when his injured shoulder was jostled. Shrignold winced, “Okay, fuck.”

Robin was running down the stairs and took his other arm – ignoring Harry’s loud cursing – and started walking with Shrignold towards the living room to set him on the couch. Manny followed suit behind them.

They thankfully were merciful enough to set him on the couch without letting his bad shoulder take the brunt of his weight. Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he was set down. Robin went to the kitchen, Shrignold started drawing the blinds close and Manny went to the couch’s side.

“What’s he doing here?” Manny asked.

Harry eyed Shrignold as he peeked out a window and then blocked the light outside with the curtains. He shook his head, “I don’t know.”

Once all the windows were shut and covered by the curtains as much as possible, giving them very little light other than Shrignold’s eyes, the Concept turned back to the couch.

“Okay, where’s your first aid kit?”

Manny frowned but said, pointing upstairs, “Bathroom.”

He nodded and then ran upstairs. Robin returned to the living room with two flashlights and a knife.

“What is he doing here?” Robin asked as he sat beside the couch and handed one of the flashlights to Manny. Harry eyed the knife in his hands and tried to bury into the furniture he was on.

“I don’t know,” Manny said, “Maybe he’s trying to help? I mean, he was in that…jury thing back there.”

“Right. Like one of them can fix this entire mess. They’re too selfish,” Robin said, “Where’s the bastard now?”

“Bathroom,” Manny answered at the same time Shrignold’s footsteps indicated that he’d just run from the bathroom to the first floor and was making his way to them.

Harry’s eyes were drooping. He drew in a breath, held it and then slowly exhaled.

Once the first aid kit was there, Shrignold checked if he had any bruises (had two on his back and a nasty one at his head. He was flung a lot stronger than he thought) and they patched him up before Robin set his shoulder with a loud snap. He tried not to scream. Keyword being tried.

And then Shrignold stilled. He glanced at the covered windows and blinked, the glow in his eyes disappearing. Harry squinted to try and get used to the darkness and caught the Concept putting a finger to his lips and whispering “Sshhh.”

Robin glanced at the window and Manny whimpered, moving closer to Harry.

The entire room hummed lowly, the air trembled and the floor slightly shook. Manny swallowed and put a hand on his chest, feeling it vibrate along with the low sound around them. Harry put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and squeezed.

The only light of the room now was coming from what little moonlight came from the outside and managed to get through the curtains. Shrignold kept still, and so did the rest of them. A few minutes later, a dark shadow crept on the edge of the curtains, then slowly, slowly moved until halfway swallowed the sight of the fabric.

“What the fuck,” Robin mouthed to no in particular. Harry continued to stare at the silhouette that was now engulfing their only light source. He held Manny a little tighter.

After what felt like forever, the edge of the curtain finally started to lighten, and then half of it, until the creature outside had finally passed by their house. The vibration lessened and lessened the further it got away.

Once the house no longer trembled, Robin looked over to Shrignold and then shot the window a glance in a silent request for permission. The Concept nodded. He rushed towards the window and peeked through the fabric to look out the window.

“What is it?” Harry asked, voice low.

Robin slowly let the curtains fall back and motioned with his hand, frowning at the floor, “Something. Looked like a huge shadow walking.”

Shrignold carded a hand through his hair and groaned, “Well, _fuck.”_

“What was that, then?” Harry turned to him instead.

“I…I don’t know. It’s probably something out of the nightmare realm,” Shrignold said, “How bad has Earth been suffering?”

Robin frowned and crossed his arms, “You mean all the late sunsets and sunrises? And the Niagara drying up?”

“The Niagara has dried up?” Shrignold turned to him before letting his face fall to his hands, “That’s not very good.”

Robin snorted, “You don’t say.”

Many shifted under Harry’s hold and swallowed, “W-what’s happening?”

Shrignold raised his head to look at the child, who scooted backwards so that his back was pressed to the lower part of the couch. He drew his knees to his chest and hugged them, “What’s happening?”

The Concept held the boy’s gaze for a little longer before smiling sadly and saying, “The world is breaking, kiddo.”


End file.
